Cahors Sunset

Cahors sunset is a short text-based Tamagotchi, the difference being your goal is to help a 65-year-old guy named Valentin Puget living in Cahors France to live as long as possible. You do this by selecting from a multiple choice of 3 events each month, each with an already prescribed plus and minus values attributed to 6 different attributes. If any of these attributes fall under score 25 then Valentin has a chance of dying. After you have a made a choice, the game then automatically prescribes an additional event which has a further minus or positive value connected to it. After several years when Valentin turns 68 a combination of more vexing and taxing algorithms are added making a complete chore to keep the 6 attributes evenly spread.

Your then presented with the question if longevity is really worth the aim, especially now that the quality of life has diminished. Your starting goal of wanting to keep him alive, will soon be replaced by the lack on new experiences, instead constantly reliving negative already experienced events. The earlier reminiscent and cherished memories of your wife pulling you through troubled times, your parents setting up the man you are today and your sense of accomplishment as you come to your relatives aid, has now completely vanished to loneliness, to sorrow, to abandonment. An originally priced $2.00 game that banquets the longevity vs quality euthanasia issue to you.

However thoughtful Brazilian developer Locomotivah thought he was, his propaganda seems extremely one-sided. I went to a party once in real life and was surprised that amongst the middle age was a 99-year-old there. On the table, drinking 'Peach Schnapps', entertaining us with jovial tales of the war. Even when she turned 100, she was still adventurous enough to travel in a hot air balloon. Discussing with her at that party she told me her motto to life. She never focused on the things that she could not control like that negative algorithm of ageing, or the negative events of her life that she could not control. Instead she focused on the things she COULD control, that is, 'the way she viewed things,’ choosing to embrace everything as new experiences. Regardless if it was something mundane like Vegemite on toast or a new song she could hum to and carry with her outside. It was the new experiences she herself kept creating that made longevity a noble pursuit. On the flip side with this game having very few events attached, unfortunately that noble inspirational message is missed with this very thinned somewhat pessimistic view.

Below full game from me...

https://youtu.be/BQCxJ4Air-g

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I buyed this game with no expectation what's so ever.
After two years i downloaded this game (and downloading Flash Driver), i played it for a litlle bit and i was pleasently suprised.

If you like making decisions and background picture it's the right game for you.

But if you have some change left after buying the latest Call of Duty i recommend you to wait for a sale.

Worth a single play-through, at a < $1 price point for about an hour of fun. You should also like text-based multiple choice games. An interest in history helps, as each turn represents a real-world month and you're presented with a factoid culled from that month's 1960's French history.

I got through the entire story on my first try, by picking the best long-term choices (i.e. the ones that gave me the highest aggregate point total) rather than worrying about one stat getting too high or too low. However, the game becomes more punishing every year, to the point where your last few months are spent in a desperate attempt not to fall too low in any one stat, leading to choices that fix short-tern problems but inevitably doom you....much like real life.

Well, that's a cheap game so I guess you shouldn't expect much in the first place.
Unfortunately I'm giving this thumbs up not because I enjoyed it very much but mainly because there are enough bad reviews already and this game is not actually bad. It's not too good either.

The idea behind the game is nice, that's a very light life-simulator of an old man, you make decisions and and they affect your stats, and you have to raise your stats as much as possible. That's pretty much it.
Very light and casual, and maybe you should buy it on sale of you may enjoy this type of game.

Unfortunately the game doesn't live to its potential, which it does have, in my opinion. Every game, as simple and minimal as it is, and with the weakest (or complete lack of) gameplay, can still leave a positive impression with a good story.

Cahors Sunset does have a story, and even though the game is pretty much a slideshow of pictures it could quite much get to me completely with a good story.
The opportunity wasn't taken, though, and the story is rather generic, with short, laconic sentences which don't really get to you.
The choices you're making, also don't really make up to one whole story, and actually have not much of a connection to each other, but they quickly become a random mess of events which in more "advanced" levels even start repeating itself.

Well, shame on me, as this is a 'thumbs up' review and I mainly bitched about the game.
I still believe that the concept is good and that it's OK for casual sessions of 5-10 minutes if you're like me and usually don't have HOURS to spend playing.
And as I said in the beginning, this game is not actually BAD. It just doesn't go far beyond this level, even though I feel it could. Which is also a shame.

Cahors Sunset is a text-based game of choice. You are in control of Valentin Puget, an old man living in Cahors, France who is in his twilight years. Try to make the right choices and make him cheat death for as long as possible.

Design & Art

Controls

Sound and Music

Gameplay

Weakpoints

Concluding Thoughts

"Old age is just a record of one's whole life." - Muhammad Ali

Boy, wasn't that accurate and... depressing... in the right way, I guess. Okay, give me a moment to arrange an actual review from the crippling strike of empathy that I just took to my guts.

Cahors Sunset is a unique mini game that invites you to become an elderly French man named Valentin Puget. You live and recount your life's tale, alongside witnessing many political changes of France's own history. Your main goal is to keep the old man alive as long as possible by making everyday choices like either drinking a fine wine, or simply visiting your doctor. You have to keep an eye on his social, financial, psychological and physical abilities to present a well balanced life. As months pass and the old man ages even more, he suffers certain ailments and penalties to all his stats. Every single thing that you choose to do carry both positive and negative consequences on different assets. Also, you are the object of happenstances of life that you have no control over, just as real life.

Narration is elegant and realistic, shedding some light to the story of a life and an era while asking the player to emphasize himself/herself with someone that resides in the winter of a life. Challenges of being old, vulnerable and fragile; living side by side with the possibility that it might be your last day on earth is heavy to say the least. You keep living, and living, and living... and at some point, you ask yourself: is this living?

The game leaves you with a sudden urge to stop whatever you are doing, pick up the phone and call your grandparents; just so you can share something, anything with them while it still matters. It leaves you with a short, but strong experience that you can benefit from as a humane virtue.

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Like me, you probably read the description of Cahors Sunset and quickly decided whether you were interested or not, and if the concept didn't grab you outright, I doubt it will win you over even with its many charms.

In Cahors Sunset you play Valentin Puget a 65 year old French man, with the goal of keep him as healthy and happy as possible as he approaches man's inevitable end. Each month you are presented a choice of three activites for Valentin to perform. Each choice will affect his six attributes, anxiety, social life, mood, weight, money, and physical health. For example, going to Paris with a friend may raise your mood, and social life, but will be a large blow to your wallet. If any of your attributes fall below 25, you put Valentin at risk of death. Some events however, are out of your control. These seemingly randomized events will yield a loss or gain to your attributes, but even when things don't go your way the consequences are measured enough to avoid feeling cheap.

As each year passes and Valentin ages you will take a penalty to your attributes, and be given a choice to select a new year's resolution which will passively affect your stats every month. Vowing to travel less may slightly increase your funds but lower your social life.

The light RPG mechanics work well enough, but to me the story is really the games main draw and it delievers it well. As each month game unfolds, you will uncover snippets about Valentin's life, loves and loss. It begins with the story of his parents, and makes its way to present day. The game also sets the stage with current events unfolding in 20th century France.

The game was clearly made on a budget, but the developer made smart decisions for the presentation which bolster the solid writing. Each screen has a backdrop of a beautiful photo from France, taken from Flickr. Although they are all from different artists, they feel surpsingly cohesive and are unified with a Sepia filter. The royalty free music chosen blends well the photography, making for a languid, melancholy atmosphere.

I wish perhaps though, the photographs could have been credited strictly in the credits. Its a minor complaint, but something about Flickr being referenced outright when I'm in 1960s France is a little mood breaking. Also a zooming effect performed on some of the the photograpy leaves a strange rippling effect which can be a bit distracting. It could be an issue with my monitor though.

I suppose now the its time to ask the question lingering the back of everyone's minds when discussing these more expiremental games. Is it any fun? Well, I don't know if "fun" is neccesarily right word to apply here. I think instead I would choose to say that Cahors Sunset is "affecting". I can't ever recall imagining what it's like to be an old man 1960s France, or the last time a game made me really and truly think about aging and how I will look back on my own story in the years to come. To me that makes Cahors Sunset a success, and I'm glad I got the chance to experience it.

Again, it's difficult to recommended this anyone who is not intially open to the concept, but if you find yourself among the curious, I think you should give it a try.

If you like, check out my first impressions video on the game below.

https://youtu.be/5ZjKgQWGXSU

It's times like this that I wish my curiosity had not gotten the better of me.

Cahors Sunset is served to you as a series of questions after a dialogue of what has most recently happened to effect his life.
The game allows you to control the decisions of an old French man. Every action you take has an effect on your character and not all choices are good; many contain unwanted side effects, mainly dropping his mood(when it came to choices I would pick). The idea is to balance the positive and negative effects of each action you take and the impacts they have on the old man's health... However, unlike quite a few other visual novels, or choice driven story games, I find this flat and really not compelling enough to want to sit there for a solid 3 to 5 hours just clicking various text boxes.

Though this novel had the chance to be something great, I feel as though it fails to reach the level it could. I can admire what they were trying to achieve by making this a fully choice driven story, where your decisions directly effect how long this man lives, but it takes the most stereotypical view of elderly people and just flops in trying to convey anything really deep and meaningful.

It just feels like an empty and random number generator. So long as you keep attributes at a stable level you'll live longer, so long as some random thing doesn't happen to make your anxiety or mood drop to a near nothing.. Like a song you don't like playing on the radio.. At the end of it all, the payoff feels really unrewarding.

On the positive notes, it has a really nice soundtrack, a lot of solid effort to convey what is going on within your characters life, full texts and decent length.

Does not balance out well between pros and cons, as it's more or less something you'll pick up for about 5-10 minutes and then go along your merry way.

If this game has taught me anything, it is how important it is for Old People to be allowed into Stripclubs and Casinos!

Visiting family, playing chess in the park, strolling aroud the neighbourhood... none of this brings as much joy and benefit when compared to being a gambling lecher.

+10 points to devs for stealing all the artwork from social media sites.
+10 points for proving that pigeons really do aim for old people
+10 points for having unlimited supply of cars to sell
+10 points for showing us that an old person can die simply by listening to a song they hate

-10 points for not being anime.

You are the old man making choices on how to live on through life. This game is much more of something you choose in order to stay alive, and whatever you choose you either gain or lose something (such as anxiety, mood, physical health, money, etc.). You need to keep status above 25, lower than that will risk of death. The game is actually interesting, this is more of a survival game and theres apparently global ranking. So see if you can live out the longest than anyone in that score if you are up for it.

You'll have to be smart on what choice you make, otherwise you will have a hard time going through choices that keeps you going forcing you to lower your status in order to gain another.

Luck is also involved when you select your choice, so prepare whats coming to you.

Anyways, 10/10. Would try again if i feel like it. And regardless of my game time, i was rather new to it and did it only one go. It gets harder eventually, so prepare yourself if you are buying this.

Hm. Well, I don't know what to say, really.

Cahors Sunset does contain a nice idea at the core, but, this is not enough to sell the game to me. As a matter of fact, it's boring to me. And it's incredibly... how do I phrase it? It's just not a good game. The random events seem to be bad for the protagonist in 90% of the cases. And the nice background photos do nothing, since the decision cards cover up about half of the screen.

So, in essence... I don't even think that 1,99€ are worth it. I would have expected a little more. And that is sad.

Maybe it was the beautiful violin soundtrack, but this was a relatively emotional & unique experience, which i wouldn't have expected from a CYOA game about finance management.
I do wish Toulouse had played better, I do not blame them for my death, in the end it was the increase in medicines pricing & having just bought & read the newspaper my lifestyle could not be sustained; I hope Matteo can find someone else to go the restaurant with as I died without being able to attend.

I bought this game and wish I hadn't. I knew that it would be a rudimentary interface, answer multiple choice questions to affect your character's destiny, etc. And the premise is very interesting: play out the life of an elderly Frenchman and try to help him stay alive as long as he can, etc.

But the game doesn't really value life, and takes a denigrating and condescending stance toward older people. I myself am 66 years of age, so I noticed that the game just seems to have this one-dimensional view of an older person living in humble circumstances. I go along with tracking the character's mood and other attributes, but there were just too many instances of the character stepping in dog feces, having a bird defecate on his head, being made fun of by younger people, etc. Three or four years into the character's game life, he is about 68 years old, and a screen pops up asking 'just how long can one live and have life still worth living?' or words to that effect. Since I myself am 66, it seems to me that the game simply forecloses on the possibilities of living for its protagonist. You get the picture? An inevitable, unchangeable slide toward death, with what remains of life being totally mundane and uninspiring. There's just nothing engaging about the game's storyline.

That said, I do think it's possible that the game's developers are onto something. My generation in the USA, the 'baby boomers', are certainly concerned with what life still has to offer us. Playing out life's possibilities for a person of humble origin in the later years is something I would try again. What about giving us a dozen different characters, from backgrounds including bedouins, Congolese, Australian Aborigines, Native Americans, etcv., etc.? This sort of game could have fantastic educational potential; could help make the world a better place.

So I say, 'Try again' to the game's developers, and am grateful that they tried this idea out.

This game is really involved, the story in the game is beautifull and touching, at some point a tear rolled down my cheek , I would reccomend it.

Well, I really don’t know what to think about this thing. Cahors Sunset is not really bad.
Basically, it has a very neat idea. Manoeuvre through the life of an old, depressed man by making very basic choices that affect more or less the basic conditions of his life. All that with a great look and horrible music. It could be a great thing if you are in this kind of games, as I am usually.
I find the Narration most of all good: While the life goes on and you learn, what month after month in France, the home country of the old man, you learn also all his biography until the point of departure of the game. That is interesting in terms of storytelling as well as in terms of telling history.

But what bothers me extremely is that the game looks and feels over all unfinished. After half an hour (half the time it took me to finish it with the age of 73 years) it feels very repetitive. Your possible choices as well as the random events repeat again and again. Also, I felt disappointed, because I think, the devs missed the opportunity to combine the historical events with the actions of the old man. Surely, this can be seen as part of the story: The world goes on and changes, and the old man’s life remains always the same depressing course down in the direction of depression and death. But I think, there could have been made a lot more.

At the end, Cahors Sunset is a pretty little game that can be played, if you like to experience this kind of games. And I am not left with anger or any negative feelings. I really really like the story telling and gameplay ideas and the minimalistic style. But I wouldn’t recommend it to a broader public.

It's a very sad tale about an old man remembering his life while trying to stay alive as long as possible. It's short, but it's good.

I have a review for this game, but I'm going to type a wall of text here in hopes that you can't see my review. Because I think there's a major point to this game that you can't ever have someone tell you about. I think you have to experience it.. I think you have to feel it. If you can come to that point on your own, it's a beautiful and amazingly well designed game for a very low price.

The problem is, in my review I'm going to spoil what I believe the "secret" point of this game is. I know some of you will click it anyways and miss out. But I'm challenging you. Is $2 really so much to pay to believe in another human being? Just please. Trust me. Don't read the rest of this review until after you've at least played through the game once on your own.

For those of you that insist on seeing it now, or for those of you who have played through once and are back now to read this, here is my review:


This game is magnificent. It's not amazing as far as gameplay, sound, graphics.. No. It's clearly not meant to be that type of game, but is any visual novel really about the visuals? They're just an accentuation for the story you're being immersed in.

The point of the game is the reason why I love it. I played the game for about 45 minutes. Just one play through. The first ten to fifteen minutes, I was treating it like another silly game I didn't care about.. Halfway through I started really getting interested in the story. It hooks you in and goes from using third person references to saying "You did this. You remember this. You were sad because." ... without you noticing, the game goes from telling you a story about someone else to engaging you in a story about yourself.

At some point, I think year seven or so. The stories stop. The family history goes no further. You learn about your parents, how they met. You learn about yourself. You learn about your brothers, and how you struggled. You learn about your first love and how she was your pillar when times got hard. When times became harder she was only there for you more. And then suddenly the history stops. The GAMEPLAY stops. And you're asked.. there really a reason to balance your life? To prolong your suffering and loneliness? To keep thinking about things. To keep hoping for another love as deep and fulfilling as the one you lived.

And at that point I realized. This game lies to you. The game tells you the point is to keep yourself alive as long as possible. And yes, you can do that for the leaderboards if you like. You can be a robot and experience life in the most optimal way for survival. Or you can do what you feel is right as you come to terms with death.

In my own final days, I visited many loved relatives and friends. Put aside money for my children, even when I didn't have any. Went out to theatre and surrounded myself with people I cared for. People stole from me and silly things would bother me.. And one day the money ran out and I died. I cried a little bit but.. I died living to the fullest.

And that. That is what I think this game is truly about. It's not a grind to live as long as you can. It's only a grind for as long as it takes for you to realize that grinding your life away is NOT the life you should want to live. At that point the game teaches you something deep about yourself and allows you to come to terms with human mortality.

For that reason I believe this game is magnificent. But who knows. I might be seeing magic where there is nothing. Perhaps it wasn't their intention. Regardless, I'm very glad for what I got out of this game.. I'm kind of sad I would have missed it if it wasn't so cheap.

10 out of 10 . Thank you to the people who worked on this gem.

Cahors Sunset is an interactive story board with a choice of three decisions each month of a sixty odd year old man; each desision you make affects various arrtibutes such as happiness weight, anxiety, social life etc. The aim of the game is to keep your man alive as long as possible by keeping these attributs well balanced. I reckon the game a life of several play throughs before it becomes a little boring. I've played for about 2.7 hours so far and have enjoyed it somewhat, but can't see me playing it much except maybe for the odd five minures as a filler between other games.

It was only £1.35, so for the time I enjoyed it was worth the money. If you want something different I will recommend it, but if you don't like text based adventures don't bother. :)

The game could have had much more replayability if there had been more than one character to play through. Maybe the developer will add more in the future.

If you are into online score tables you may enjoy trying to beat the top ten players. The age at which your character dies is recorded there. My best score so far is 69 years 9 months old. The top 10 scores are between 74 years 3 months and 76 years. you die when one of your attributes be it health, weight, social, anxiety, money, etc goes to zero. Whenever it's your birthday from around the age of 67 onwards you lose several points from each attribute at each birthday, so mae sure you make the right choices to survive and beat the top scores. :)

TL;DR: The game is a random number generator dependent upon RNG. So long as you keep attributes at a stable level (sometimes dependent upon a lot of luck) you'll survive. The payoff is unrewarding. The game has potential to be more than what it is.


Purchase reason: Game appeared in the new releases of Steam. The description piqued my interest. There aren't many games on the platform that appear to have this type of background. Further, my partner adores French culture and history so that helped the purchase decision.

Install note: Be forewarned that the game will attempt to install Adobe Air when you try and start the game for the first time.

Initial reaction: The concept plays out a little too simply - You make a single choice for the month (they can be very simple things that would be a common occurrence in everyday life such as attending a sports contest). There doesn't appear to be nearly as much substance in the game as what there could be.

In game music: It's pleasant enough to listen to at first. However, I must admit to turning the sound down/off before completing my first game as it became grating.

A possible subtle point of the game: Each month the game provides a description of what is happening in the world beyond your control. This effects your own life minimalistically. As such I can see that this is one of the points that Locomotivah may be attempting to make with the game. That we as individuals believe that what happens in the greater scheme of life may not impact us nearly as much as we may believe it does.

At the beginning of each birth year you make a fresh resolution. This resolution provides a positive and a negative effect each month. One option is to take up smoking which increases your anxiety while decreasing your physical health. Another thing that happens each birth year is that you lose a point in each attribute for each year that you've survived. For example, after your first year you lose one in each category and so on.

Post-first game reaction: My initial reaction stands. The game has potential for deeper gameplay than it currently provides. At this current point in time it's essentially a random number generator with different categories that you can't drop beneath. So long as the RNG is in your favor and you select the most appropriate choice each month you will continue to survive.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that the reward/payoff is rewarding enough for spending much time with the game. Unless, of course, your goal is to get into the top of the leaderboards. That's about all you can hope for as the game has no achievements nor does it have trading cards (yet).

My Recommendation: It's one of those games that deserves an inbetween recommendation. I wouldn't recommend purchasing it by itself - even though at $2 or $1.69 with its 15% launch promotion it's certainly priced correctly - but it is something that's worth a playthrough if the setting and the mini-storyline piques your interest. I'd recommend holding off for an inevitable indie bundle.

Just got this.. Obviously havent played long. But Ill tell you this.. The longer I live, the more I get involved in the story. Its short and sweet.. Not an obscene amount of text. Very quirky, historical, and yet whimsical and refreshing. For less than 2 dollars, I can't ask for more. Chosing what a 60yr old man does in his life doesn't sound like much fun at first... But Im enjoying it.
"You stepped in dog feces"
-3 mood
9/10 so far and thats only because I haven't been able to tell any youths to get off my lawn.